Our take: Split 7” pairing Philadelphia’s Trash Knife with Madison, Wisconsin’s Dumb Vision. Trash Knife are a known quantity around Sorry State as I’ve loved all of their previous releases. If you haven’t heard them before, they play snotty, hardcore-y punk that reminds me of the Avengers, but with melodic, Buzzcocks-type leads peppered throughout the songs. That formula remains intact for their three songs (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!), but there are two key differences. First, with three songs crammed onto one side of a split 7”, these songs are shorter and more to the point than previous Trash Knife songs. Second, the production here is piss raw, super noisy and blown out. I would have been skeptical that such raw production would work for Trash Knife since there’s so much going on in their music, but the nastiness brings out the band’s acerbic side and makes for a thrilling listen. As for Dumb Vision, this is the first time I've heard them. They’re more of a pop-punk band than Trash Knife (who always struck me as hardcore-meets-77-punk) and remind me of early Lookout!-era Queers or the first Lillingtons LP. However, their recording has just as much noise and filth as Trash Knife’s side, and while I’m not a big pop-punk guy the spoonful of vinegar helps this medicine go down.This is just the kind of no-nonsense punk split you don’t hear much anymore.